By Pesach Benson • September 8, 2026
Jerusalem, 8 September, 2026 (TPS-IL) — A team of Israeli and U.S. scientists has developed a new way to deliver antibody drugs into cells, showing that the method can reduce harmful protein buildup in nerve cells in a model of Parkinson’s disease.
The technology could eventually benefit people living with Parkinson’s disease and patients with other neurodegenerative diseases in which harmful proteins accumulate inside nerve cells. Parkinson’s disease affects an estimated 12 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and there is currently no cure.
Antibody drugs are already widely used to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases and other conditions. But they have an important limitation: They usually cannot get inside cells, preventing them from reaching many proteins that cause or contribute to disease.
Scientists from Tel Aviv University, the Technion and Cornell University developed a technology designed to overcome that limitation.
The researchers temporarily “masked” antibodies using a synthetic molecule called SL4. The mask changes the antibody’s properties, making it easier to load into tiny fat-based particles called lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs. These particles can carry the antibodies into cells.
Once inside the cell, the mask is removed and the antibody returns to its normal form, allowing it to work against its target.
Tests showed that the masked antibodies could be loaded into the nanoparticles much more efficiently than ordinary antibodies. The antibodies also remained stable and were still able to recognize their intended targets.
Reaching Inside Cells
The researchers then tested whether the antibodies could work after entering cells. In experiments involving pathways linked to cancer and inflammatory diseases, the antibodies entered cells and reduced activity in important disease-related pathways.
The most promising result came from experiments involving Parkinson’s disease. The researchers used an antibody designed to target alpha-synuclein, a protein that can build up into harmful clumps in nerve cells in Parkinson’s.
In early experiments, the researchers delivered the antibody into nerve cells using the nanoparticles and observed a significant reduction in harmful alpha-synuclein clumps.
The finding provides an early demonstration that antibodies can potentially be delivered into cells and used against disease-related proteins that were previously difficult to reach. The approach could eventually open new possibilities for treating diseases driven by proteins that conventional antibody therapies cannot reach.
The researchers estimate that about 80% of proteins involved in human diseases are found inside cells, potentially leaving many therapeutic targets inaccessible to conventional antibody drugs.
“For many years, delivering antibodies into cells has been considered one of the greatest challenges in the field of biologic therapies,” said Prof. Ben Maoz of Tel Aviv University’s Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and Sagol School of Neuroscience.
“We have succeeded in developing a system that enables antibodies to cross the cellular barrier and reach targets that were previously beyond their reach,” he said.
The researchers also tested the technology in a model of acute lung inflammation. The treatment reduced signs of inflammation and improved damage to lung tissue, suggesting that the approach could have applications beyond Parkinson’s disease.
The technology is still in the preclinical research stage. The research team stressed that further studies are needed to determine whether it is safe and effective in humans.
The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
